it's the same kind of happy thinking that led to some boldly-predicting a romney victory. he said republicans are so screwed. this is why president obama is playing to his strengths. the president has never had a problem rallying the american people to his side. >> understand this was a central question in the election. maybe thee central question in the election. we talked about this a lot. >> republicans are furious because they can't control this conversation. americans know where they stand on tax fairness and republicans are on the losing end. it's been a rough week. get your cell phones out. tonight's question, who has the upper hand in the fiscal cliff negotiations at this point? text a for president obama and b for the republicans to 622639. you can go to our blog and leave a comment. we encourage you to do that. i'm joined tonight by sam stein, political reporter for "the huffington post." don't you dare give me a hard time about the packers. who is winning the conversation with the american people? what kind of week was it on the hill? >> you can say the presiden